Full Sail Partners Blog | Technology Solutions (11)

Document management in the AEC Industry is more critical than most. Union Square can help your firm integrate all relevant data, allowing you to spend less time organizing and more time executing projects. Union Square enables your firm to store and access critical firm-wide and project information, including documents, financial information, drawings, images, and emails in one central repository. As a result, your firm has the ability to:

• Ensure team members are working on the most up-to-date files
• Eliminate inconsistent file structures or displaced files
• Keep drawings, correspondence, submittals and more in one central location
• Log incoming documents from any source
• Provide auto-matching suggestions to improve the quality of records
• Document register that gives you all the answers you might need about the state of the project from anywhere

Email

Email easily represents the greatest volume of documents and must be managed effectively or your firm will be left with an expensive archive full of duplicates, difficult if not impossible to retrieve information, and significantly slowing down your ability to send critical information to your clients. Union Square will ensure no email can ever be lost and there are no duplicates by allowing your firm to:

• Save emails from Outlook in just two clicks
• Save just one copy of an email and avoid duplication of email storage
• Store all project correspondence and attachments centrally and permanently
• Strip attachments from email and log appropriately

Document Management

Union Square, combined with Deltek, now offers truly the most integrated platform in the world, reducing operational risk and increasing efficiency.

Other solutions simply are not complete and cannot provide adequate risk reduction and efficiencies. With the varying documents involved in the AEC Industry, basic document sharing provided by SharePoint does not offer a construction issuing system and has no integration with industry design packages. Custom development can be costly and virtually impossible to manage and keep up with future upgrades. A DMS overlay doesn’t provide true risk reduction and access to emails, client reports or company finance all in one location. Union Square will do all of the above and more:

• Documents, emails, finance, and design files all cross-referenced for rapid retrieval
• Detailed document audit and full history
• Documents stored in their native file formats
• Cache services keep documents local to each office to give a single virtual office across the company without compromising performance

An interactive drawing register provides version control, including:

• Links that allow the issuing of process control and distribution of drawings throughout their lifecycle
• Read and write access that provides version control to users based on security permissions

External File Sharing 

The exponential growth in file sizes has made sharing drawing packages a time consuming exercise which lacks company transparency. Manually uploading files to a client extranet or third party file sharing location is slow and requires keeping both an internal and external record of the documents.

Union Square’s design register, issue sheets, document packages and official company records are all exemplar quality and ISO 9001 compliant, fully automated and recorded. The system is unimpeded by file size limits, and documents can be shared internally and externally from the same location with specific user rights for read and write access of only the files or folders chosen. No more worrying about setting up dated FTP sites or emailing large files. Everyone is finally on the same page with one version of the truth.

Contract Administration

Contracts should be easily traceable to reduce the risk of costly legal disputes. All emails, queries, questions and responses are all legally admissible in court. By bringing together the contract communications with the Document Management System, your firm has better visibility of project issues before they arise. Union Square provides enhanced foresight and project management, mitigates risk, and enables your firm to offer detailed status updates to your clients.

Remember, just because you may be required to use someone else’s external system on some projects, these are your client’s records and not your own! You own internal records will be necessary in any legal dispute.

Revit Integration

Union Square has developed a bridge to integrate with Revit. With the industry’s move towards BIM (Building Information Modelling), the way information is exchanged with clients and project partners has to change. Information sharing can sometimes include everything from the native model or IFC file, COBie file to traditional 2D formats like PDF, DWG, DDWF, DWFX and DGN.

Together with the Union Square drawing control system, the Revit integration will help your firm realize significant efficiency gains and see improvements in quality of output and practice-wide consistency with document production through to distribution. Included in the Revit integration is:

• Bi-directional drawing register
• Revision and versions management
• Document issuing and rendition management
• Hard copy batch print control

With Union Square, your firm will finally have synchronized model sheet information with a live drawing register and the ability to monitor approval/issue status at the click of a button.

More Mobility with Union Square 

No more clipboards! With on-site mobile technology, Union Square automates the process of site data capture, task management and reporting. You can finally achieve a bulletproof audit trail and strengthen your position in contract disputes. With Union Square you will have also have access to Mobile Custom Forms which you can customize to comply with quality assurance processes and integrate your site processes.

Full Sail Partners today announced it joined the Concur Solution Provider program and can now refer clients, including those using Deltek, to Concur, the leading provider of spend management solutions and services.

This partnership expands the Full Sail Partners offering to include Concur solutions and allows Concur data to flow into Deltek Vision, helping professional services firms create a better expense reporting experience for their employees and also enable the firms to realize significant cost savings.

“We are ecstatic to introduce Concur to our clients,” said Tanya Drake, Full Sail Partners Technology Division’s Technical Consultant. “This partnership gives project-based clients the most efficient expense reporting solution ever. Our clients will experience firm-wide cost savings and eliminate mistakes and fraud with the automated controls and duplication verification. Employees will love the automatic pull of data to their expense reports, virtually eliminating manual entry of expense reports. It’s a win-win for both the firm and employees.”

Concur Travel, Expense and Invoice are the industry’s leading solutions to help businesses manage spend and gain insights that drive savings. Concur has more than 40 million users globally, and in 2015 the company processed transactions worth more than $70 billion in travel and expense spend.

Kelly Duquette, Principal Solutions Consultant at Full Sail Partners who has worked with the Concur product at a previous firm said, “We believe this is a great opportunity for the Deltek Vision community to leverage Concur to create a fast, efficient process that allows employees to spend less time on tedious tasks and more time focusing on their billable work.” 

Together, Full Sail Partners and Concur will enable HR and accounting professionals to better manage expenses and invoice processing from approval to payment posting. The expanded capabilities offered through Concur will enable professional services firms to capture paper and electronic invoices, enabling efficient, automated processing – from purchase request through payment, including 2-way and 3-way match capabilities. 

“Travel and expense is the second largest area of controllable business spend – a challenge especially significant to SMBs. With a partner-focused initiative like the Concur Solution Provider program, we can help partners like Full Sail Partners expand the value they provide SMBs while driving business growth and profitability,” said Christal Bemont, SVP and GM of SMB and National Accounts, Concur.

To receive details about this partnership and the Concur solutions offered through Full Sail Partners, please visit http://www.blackboxconnector.com.

Full Sail Partners provides technology services and solutions for more than 1,000 professional services firms nationwide. Blackbox Connector, a division of Full Sail Partners, helps bring data together with a no-code, low cost, integration solution connecting Deltek Vision users to any API-powered application within minutes. Full Sail Partners represents project-based products focused on integrating business processes by connecting front-end and back-end systems. We seek to help organizations identify the critical resources needed to create a faster, more efficient, and cohesive business infrastructure.

I don’t know anyone that actually enjoys completing their expense report. The process is arduous, and steals valuable time from your already hectic day. The fact is, if you want to get reimbursed for a company expenditure, you have to take the time to complete your expense report. No ifs ands or buts about it.  Luckily, Blackbox’s Deltek Vision and Concur Integration eliminates this pain staking process for your employees and frees them up to concentrate on client-focused, billable work.

So, how can the Blackbox Concur Connector help you combine the benefits or Concur's expense controls and management with Vision's financial and project management tools? Easy! See how below.

The Deltek Vision and Concur Integration Made My Life Easier:

As someone who travels a fair amount, the Deltek Vision and Concur integration has allowed me to get the most out of my business expenses. Before, I was overly focused on diligently taking a picture of every receipt and documenting every incurred cost. Now, when I am out with a client, I can focus on listening and cultivating our relationship.  Here is how:

No more expense report time dump! Concur’s credit card integration is freakin’ awesome. I’ll admit it, I am terrible at manually documenting receipts and deciphering between my credit card charges vs. cash expenses. I used to stress out when thinking about the time dump required to complete my expense reports. Now, the Deltek Vision and Concur integration allows me to complete and submit my expense reports faster, rather than waiting until the end of the month to begin the process.

User protection / fraud prevention. Recently after traveling in New York City, I submitted an expense report with duplicate charges for an Uber ride. This minor mistake held up the processing of my expense report as we internally worked out my error. Concur allows me to eliminate this time consuming process of going back and forth from submitter, management and accounting. Additionally, these controls protect the company from accidental or direct fraudulent activity.

Mobile is where it’s at! I’m constantly on the go and I rely on my smart phone for just about everything. I can honestly say that Concur’s mobile app has been a big reason that I have been more diligent with completing my expense reports.

The app utilizes OCR technology that allows me to automatically pull all relevant information off of receipts, including:

• Vendor
• Date
• Dollar amount
• And more

Additionally, the mobile app sends me alerts when I have new charges, reports to approve or notifications.

Real-time, Automatic, Transaction-based Integration.  No more waiting for new projects to show up so I can associate expenses.  No tedious manual uploads to share information between the two systems.  No more having to input the same information in multiple places.  The bi-directional connector allows the information I and my accounting team need to be available where and when it is needed.

Ready to See How Concur Integrates with Deltek Vision?

Are you ready to learn more about this turn-key integration of Deltek Vision and Concur? Join Pete Nuffer as he unveils how all Deltek Vision users can win with automated expense management.

Recently, Beaudin Ganze Consulting Engineers, Inc. embarked on a rebranding initiative, officially becoming BG Buildingworks. A critical element of this rebranding effort was to notify the company’s key constituents to reaffirm that the rebranding was primarily a cosmetic change, and that BG Buildingworks would maintain their personnel and technical expertise.

Hear directly from Karen Crilly, BG Buildingworks’ Director of Marketing & Client Development, about this process. See how the firm was able to overcome challenges with their contact data in time to announce the rebranding prior to their 25^th anniversary.

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For BG Buildingworks, innovative solutions are at the core of their business. BG Buildingworks provides mechanical, electrical, lighting, technology, commissioning, energy analysis and LEED consulting services for projects ranging from those in higher education to government, commercial, hospitality, healthcare and more. They are experts in REVIT modeling, employing state-of-the art technology and tools to optimize energy-efficient building systems and improve the owner’s bottom line.

Through early program definition, focused project management, expert systems design and engineering and highly experienced construction phase services, BG Buildingworks provides owners with low-risk, high-return solutions for their facilities.

Full Sail Partners, a Deltek Premier Partner, announces that Kelly Duquette has joined the firm as a Principal Solutions Consultant to assist professional services firms with improving their business processes within Deltek Vision. Kelly’s specialties include planning and supporting firms with migrating data during mergers and acquisitions; configuring and training of the Vision Purchasing and Asset Management modules; and building and implementing client solutions within the Vision Advanced Workflow Engine. This strategic hire expands Full Sail Partners’ consulting team presence on the east coast.

“I am thrilled to be in a client facing position that will allow me to assist clients with the use of Deltek Vision,” stated Kelly Duquette. “Full Sail Partners offers a wide variety of services and offerings that work to expand the product and make it a unique experience for each company. I look forward to engaging with clients so they can benefit from our entire team’s knowledge of the product.”

With a background in accounting, Kelly has more than 25 years of experience focused around Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system management and implementation. She holds her Master’s Degree in Business Administration and has been both a Deltek Vision user and system administrator. Prior to joining Full Sail Partners, Kelly was Vice President and Director of ERP Systems at a large Engineering/Environmental Consulting Firm, with more than 120 offices across the US and approximately 4,200 employees. With a focus on process improvement throughout her professional career, she has managed several mergers and acquisitions and led several Deltek Vision implementations and business processes initiatives.  

Kelly was the leader of the Deltek Vision Large Firm User Group and a member of the Deltek Vision Power User group. She participated in the early adopter program for the Purchasing and Asset Management modules. In November, at the Deltek Insight Conference, Kelly will be presenting on the Critical Roadmap Factors for Mergers and Acquisitions and Getting Started with Deltek Vision's Approval Engine. She will be co-presenting with Ed Zanaty for Vision Purchasing - A Project Centric Approach. In the past, she has presented at numerous user group meetings.

“Full Sail Partners jumped at the chance to bring a veteran, Deltek Vision user like Kelly on board,” said Scott Seal, Vice President of Consulting. “She has a proven track record of improving processes and creating efficiencies within the Deltek Vision system. Kelly’s extensive consulting, data migration and custom experience with professional services industry brings a wealth of knowledge to the Full Sail Partners’ consulting team and provides fluidity between the client, consultants, and the custom solutions division to ensure we are providing the right solution.”

For more information, please contact Full Sail Partners’ Marketing Communications Department. Interested in learning more about the Full Sail Partners' team? Check out our crew!

If someone were to ask you what do you like least about your job, what would you say? Assuming you like your boss, your environment and co-workers, there is still always a task that you just wish you didn’t have to do. For me, it is my expenses. You would think, getting reimbursed would be motivation in itself. Yes, at some point it absolutely is. It has gotten much easier now that I can take a picture of my receipts and quickly upload through my Deltek Vision Touch application with my phone. However, I still have to fill out the details which takes time. Time I don’t always have. What if I told you it could get even easier? I was then introduced to the Concur expense solution.

I literally was giddy over expenses when I saw what the solution could do. The Concur expense solution automatically imports credit card charges and matches them to receipts and itinerary data. Instead of manually entering your expenses, I can simply take a picture of the receipt and it reads the information and fills out my expenses. Sounds too good to be true, right?

So how can this help Deltek Vision users you might ask? Well, there is an integration being finalized right now. I invite you to view the video below to begin to learn more about the Concur expense solution:

Learn more in the upcoming Concur webinar. This webinar will further show you how Concur expense reports write themselves and we will provide a sneak peek of the upcoming Deltek Vision integration.

You asked and Deltek listened. There are a number of new and exciting updates and features in Vision Version 7.6. Let’s see how Deltek Vision just got better!

Employee Expense Approval

In addition to Purchase Requisitions, Request for Price Quotes, Purchase Orders, Inventory Item Requests, Absence Requests, AP Invoice Approvals and General Ledger Budgets, Employee Expense Reports are now included in Approval Work Flows. Approval workflows are user designed for specific applications in Vision. All lines of the expense report can be set up for approval and/or just specific line items in a given report can be set up for approval. The workflow defines the approval process, approvers, allowable actions and alerts for a record.

Purchasing

Vendor Response enhancements were made in purchasing. As a result, Vision can be configured with up to 10 user-defined labels. When you are in RFQ or Purchase Requisition by line item, you can select from one of the user-defined labels and apply a response to that label.

For RFQ’s and purchase requisitions, you have the option to Show Suggested Vendors and Show Vendor Responses. The new Bid Evaluation report gives you the selected vendors for comparison purposes.

Also new in purchasing is a new Comments tab in Purchases Orders. The comments are for internal use only. Comments can be added even after the PO has been finalized and printed. These notes can be included on the Purchase Order Detail Report.

A PO column has been added to Vendor Review. Once you select a voucher, you can see the PO Number column on the Voucher Line Items grid. You can drill down on the PO number to display the PO and add notes if you choose to.

Benefit Accrual

Deltek didn’t forget about Benefit Accruals enhancements. Sick and vacation time can now be calculated on hours worked. This enhancement is in response to states that require firms to earn 1 hour of sick time for each 30 hours worked.

Billing

Deltek added a Retainer Ledger Report. This new report displays complete details associated with retainers by either project and/or by client. General options for this report can be set to display retainer amounts for specific time frames, i.e. last year, first quarter.

Invoices and the invoice backup report can now display the Labor Category description, Title, Labor Code description and timesheet detail.

AR Statements just got a little more personal. Similar to invoice templates created in the Invoice Template Editor, you can now add your firm’s logo to AR Statements. Margins can be defined for information printed in the heading and the Project Long Name can now be used.

Deltek also streamlined the Invoice Approval process. In the past, invoices submitted for approval would have to be un-submitted one invoice at a time. In version 7.6, invoices can now be un-submitted in batch.

Billing Invoices and Backup Reports are more flexible. On the Invoice and billing backup reports, the employee name can now be replaced with the Labor Category Description, Labor Code Description or Title while displaying the date and comments. These selections have been added to the Labor tab and the Billing Backup tab in Billing Terms.

Also new in Billing is a feature that allows you to show Fee Total and Add-on on the Final and Draft Invoice Backup Report. This selection is also available on the Billing Backup tab in Billing Terms.

Another useful feature in billing is the ability to show expenses in the billing backup report on draft invoices. The selection for this option has been added to the Billing Backup tab in Billing Terms.

Breakdown compensation in User Defined Revenue Methods. Currently in Deltek Vision, Direct Labor, Direct Expenses, Direct Consultant, Reimbursable Expense and Reimbursable Consultant can break out by compensation. In version 7.6, there are now fields available for the compensation breakout to be used in the User Defined Revenue Methods.

Credit Cards

In Credit Card Review, you can now see the Expense Report, Voucher and Chart of Account Number in the Credit Card Transactions grid. You can also perform a search by Expense Report and/or Voucher.

The User Defined Fields that are created in credit card configuration can also can also be displayed on the Credit Card Review, Credit Card Transactions tab and the Credit Card Statement Reconciliation, and the Credit Card Charges tab.

In version 7.6, you can now add employee paid credit cards. Charges paid by the employee can be marked as “Add to Expense Report” so that the employee will be reimbursed. Charges can also be marked as personal. Personal charges will not be included on the expense report.

There is also a new credit card mapping available in credit card configuration that will map the description of the credit card statement to the employee’s expense report.

Info Center Attachments

The Info Centers have a new tab called “Attachments”. Instead of entering a link in the Info Centers referencing the path where documents are stored, you can now load an actual image of the document. Info Center Attachments use the same technology as the Transaction Document Management feature.

Once uploaded, documents can be viewed by simply clicking on the view button on the attachments tab of the info center record.

Are You Excited about Deltek Vision 7.6?

Deltek Vision continues to improve with every new version, and with these enhancements, lives are made easier and firms are able make smarter decisions. What enhancements can help you and your firm? Contact us and let us know!

Full Sail Partners, a Deltek Premier Partner, announces that Tanya Drake has joined the firm as Technology Consultant and will manage vendor relationships for the newly formed Technology Solutions Division. In this capacity, Mrs. Drake will provide assistance to professional services firms to identify technology gaps and support IT needs. This strategic hire strengthens Full Sail Partners’ technology group to provide clients’ hardware, software and technical services to support their goals and needs outside of their Deltek Vision software.  

Throughout her career, Tanya has held several roles with various business-focused technology solution companies where she has worked with clients to identify areas of opportunity for process improvement. 

“My past experience working with vendors allows me to expand Full Sail Partners capabilities to be a one-stop shop for technology needs,” said Tanya. “Having worked with their staff in the past I knew they were the type of company that is truly in business for the right reasons. I am proud to work for a company that is passionate about helping their clients.”

Tanya has more than 15 years of collaborating with professional services firms providing them insight to navigate the decision making process from inception to implementation on technology solutions. Her vendor agnostic approach to identifying solutions for clients ensures that the best fit and most practical solutions are implemented.

“Tanya has a passion for solving problems. With her addition we are excited to offer both stand-alone technology solutions and integrated solutions to support our core services for the Deltek Vision product,” stated Wes Renfroe, Vice President of Technology Solutions Division at Full Sail Partners. “Her desire to help clients combined with her past experience working with A/E/C industry positions our firm to provide even greater flexibility and choices for our clients.”

For more information, please contact Full Sail Partners’ Marketing Communications Department. Interested in learning more about the Full Sail Partners' team? Check out our crew!

Full Sail Partners, a Deltek Premier Partner, announces that Matt McCauley EA, MS has joined the firm as a Principal Consultant. Mr. McCauley’s hire expands the Full Sail Partners’ team to more than 30 professionals focused on technology solutions. His extensive knowledge of the Deltek product set and proven consulting expertise are an ideal match to help clients streamline business processes and achieve greater efficiency from their Deltek Vision ERP system.

With more than 20 years in the professional services industry, Matt has the insight that will allow him to identify the unique requirements of our clients. He specializes in Deltek Vision’s Core Applications, Resource Planning, VPM, and most recently, Fixed Assets.

“My prior experience as a CFO and a Deltek Vision client will help me bring a client-based end user approach to Vision consulting,” said Matt. “I’m excited to work closely with clients to implement Vision in a way that complements their business processes and to improve operational efficiencies.” 

Throughout his career, Matt has worked as both a client and a consultant, providing a unique perspective during client implementations. As a CFO and Deltek Vision user, Matt led the Vision conversion effort for his firm and managed Vision prior to becoming a consultant. Additionally, Matt has completed the PSMJ Project Manager and Financial Manager Boot Camps, and is an Internal Revenue Service Special Enrolled Agent, a Federally Licensed Tax Practitioner.

“We are excited to have Matt join the Full Sail Partners’ team,” said Scott Seal, Vice President of Consulting. “Matt’s background in Accounting and Project Management, both as a Deltek Vision Power User and Vision Consultant, provides more depth and expertise to our collaborative consulting team. Matt’s extensive 20+ years’ of experience in the professional services industry allows him to provide unique insight that will help our clients to better leverage their Deltek Vision systems.”

For more information, please contact Full Sail Partners’ Marketing Communications Department. Interested in learning more about the Full Sail Partners' team? Check out our crew!

The technology and applications that power your firm are critical to the overall mission of your organization. Unfortunately many of these applications are disconnected which causes us to end up with siloed data. So what’s the big deal? Firms that end up with siloed data spend more time flushing valuable resources (time and money) down the drain than working towards their overall business objectives! Do you really want to spend more time managing your data, than managing your clients?! Stop flushing your resources down the drain by eliminating siloed applications from your organization.

But wait, what exactly is a siloed application? Siloed applications are partitions within organizations that isolate departments, teams and even people. These applications do not communicate or share data with any other system, greatly limiting your ability to leverage the data living inside of these systems.

Are You Stuck in a Data Silo, But Don’t Even Know It?

Have you ever stopped to think about how your internal systems communicate and share data? Perhaps you’re unsure about the overall connectivity of your business systems. Read the below scenarios to see if you are suffering from siloed data.

• Your systems are slowing you down and preventing you from making real-time decisions
• You find yourself unsure of where critical data lives. Or even worse, you find yourself locked out of accessing data because you don’t know the right username or password
• You are unable to track campaign/project results without checking multiple systems
• You are representing data in multiple locations, causing the need for duplicate entry

If the above scenarios describe your firm, then you are suffering from data silos. Fortunately for you, this is a common problem and there is a solution!

How Can You Get Rid of Data Silos?

There are many ways to get rid of data silos in your professional services organization. The trick is finding the right solution that fits your corporate culture. Here are some examples of ways to break free from the grips of siloed data:

1. Take it to the cloud. As we have written about in previous blogs, there are multiple benefits to taking your organization’s data to the cloud. The benefits are clear in strict terms of breaking your data free from restrictive silos. Mainly, once your data lives in a cloud based application or system you are now able to leverage connections to this data from all over the world. Gone are the days of being tied to a desk. Employees are doing more than ever before and they are doing it from all around the world!
   
2. Centralize your data storage with a master record set. Creating a master data set will introduce a method to the madness of managing disparate data. Next time you are evaluating a new piece of software or application ask yourself how it fits in with your already established master data set. Is it worth adopting this technology if it only creates additional silos? This is something that you will need to review with all key decision makers and stakeholders.
   
3. If you connect it, they will come. Unfortunately we find ourselves living in a world of highly specialized technology. There is a reason the average company has 5.5 applications per employee; in today’s highly competitive market we need access to the tools that can help differentiate us from our competition. Fortunately, integration technologies are becoming widely available.
   
   Once seen as an option only available for major corporations, application integrations have become common place in both the business and personal world. If you have ever hooked your Instagram account up to your Facebook account – you’ve used an integration. If you’ve ever synced your email accounts to one central mailbox – you’ve used an integration.
   
   Integrations allow us to get the most out of current investments, while not limiting the technology available to our business teams. In fact, many firms won’t even consider purchasing new software if it does not have integration capability.

Not Sure Where to Start?

If you are ready to start breaking free of these data silos, but don’t know where to begin, we have the webinar for you. Join Pete Nuffer as he presents Dude Where’s My Data. This webinar will review best practices focused around data integrity, including the establishment of a master record set. See how new out of the box tools can be used to promote data sharing within your organization.